


Dogs and Cats, Living Together

by CrushItWithABrick



Series: Sheith-tober 2019 Prompts [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Keith likes dogs, M/M, Other, POV Shiro (Voltron), Pets, SHEITH - Freeform, Sheith Month 2019, Shiro likes cats, sheith-tober, sheithtober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 22:54:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20882009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrushItWithABrick/pseuds/CrushItWithABrick
Summary: Shiro helps Keith looks for Cosmo and finds the dog as made a new friend.





	Dogs and Cats, Living Together

“Where’s Cosmo?”

Shiro’s not surprised that that is the first thing out of Keith’s mouth as he walks in the door. He kisses Shiro’s cheek and looks around the room.

“Outside?” 

Shiro’s not entirely sure where the dog is and, if forced to be brutally honest, doesn’t really care. Not that he doesn’t like the giant dog-wolf that shares their home (and tries to share their bed despite his size). He likes Cosmo well enough. But that’s where it ends, with like. Keith? Keith loves him in an almost obsessive way that Shiro just doesn’t understand and sometimes even finds off putting bordering on disgusting. But he can’t deny he loves the fact that Keith loves the dog so deeply and purely. He just wishes he’d cool it with letting Cosmo lick his face, especially his mouth.

Keith gives a little huff and goes out the back door. Shiro can hear him calling for the dog and after a few minutes, hears Keith come back inside.

“Get up and help me look for him,” he says. 

“Please?”

“You’re the one that locked him out of the house. . .”

“How do you lock a teleporting dog-wolf out of anything?” Shiro counters without looking up from his book. 

The last thing he wants to do is get up, put on his boots, jacket, and hat, and trudge out into the snowy woods to call for a dog that has never once in the course of their relationship come to him when Shiro’s called. Unless Shiro was offering food.

He turns in his easy chair to look at Keith and tell him as much and sees the worry on his face. He sighs, dog ears his page, and gets up. Keith paces at the backdoor as Shiro dresses.

“Thank you,” he says as they walk down the steps.

“So, how do we track a dog that can move around without leaving footprints?”

“Look for signs,” Keith replies. “Little broken branches or hairs.”

Keith marches ahead of him and Shiro sighs. Even outside he can’t escape dog hairs. He’s always battling them in the house. Long light and dark blue strands that clog the vacuum cleaner and shorter, nearly transparent hairs that Shiro is convinced exist purely to float into his face when he’s trying to eat, or land on his food only to be discovered once they’re in his mouth.

He veers off from Keith to cover more ground and checks the undergrowth for signs of Cosmo. He trods along and scans the ground and notices something. 

Paw prints. Small paw prints.

Shiro doesn’t consider himself much of an animal tracker but he recognizes the tracks immediately and smiles to himself.

Cat tracks, probably from the small colony of ferals that live in the area. The colony that Shiro helps look after. Kind of.

The bulk of the work is taken up by their neighbor, a strange little bump of a woman who has dedicated herself to tending to pretty much any non-human creature that crosses her path. She’s not particularly warm or friendly but she’s not stupid. When Shiro showed up on her porch to volunteer, she didn’t hesitate to accept. The first time Shiro added a twenty pound bag of dry cat food to their cart of groceries, Keith frowned at him but said nothing.

Shiro follows the tracks to a dense thatch of undergrowth where he notices what appears to be an abandoned nest. He finds faded tracks leading away from the nest and follows them down to an outcropping of weather worn rocks littered with small caves. There, they abruptly stop.

“COSMO!”

He hears Keith’s voice and is reminded why he’s really out here in the woods. He quickly scans the vicinity for signs of the dog and, seeing nothing, returns to his side project.

“COSMO!”

Keith calls again, this time closer, and Shiro hears a little whine.

“Cosmo?” He says, hopefully low enough so Keith won’t hear and the whine comes again. He can’t help but fear the worst and immediately hopes it’s not true.

Even a teleporting dog-wolf is not immune to getting hurt and Shiro has seen traps in the woods. Ugly metal things, spread wide on the ground and meant to snap an animal by the leg and hold them. They’re outlawed but, despite Shiro and Keith removing any they find and reporting them, they always reappear.

“Cosmo?” He calls again, this time a little louder. The whine comes again, followed by a small bark. It echoes from deep in the rocks and Shiro goes toward the sound.

He doesn’t call for Keith. Instead, he waits until he can locate the dog and make sure he’s ok or, if he’s not, assess the injuries.

He crosses to the back of the outcropping and calls again when he sees the mouth of a cave. When he hears the whine again, he sighs and squeezes himself through the narrow opening. As his eyes adjust to the darkness, he sees a familiar bluish white glow.

“Cosmo. . .” He stops as he hears a low growl followed by a hiss. “Cosmo?” He says again and is rewarded with another whine and the whump of a tail on the cave floor. He squints and sees the flash of light reflected in eyes but they aren’t Cosmo’s.

Cosmo whines again and licks the air then licks at his side. Shiro steps closer and sees, nestled in the glowing fur, the outline of a black cat. Cosmo licks at the cat and Shiro hears a low rumble. Not growling, but purring. He chuckles and crouches by Cosmo’s head.

“It’s ok,” he says. Cosmo thrusts his face up at Shiro, knocking him back on his butt. Shiro laughs and slides closer to the dog and scratches his ear. “You ok?” He stares at the cat and adds. “Who’s your friend?”

Cosmo licks at Shiro’s face and Shiro recoils.

“Ok, that’s not necessary,” he says. He slips off his gloves and works his fingers into Cosmo’s scruff and gives him a scratch. Cosmo tilts his head up and back and licks the air. Shiro laughs and pushes the dog away from his face again. He looks at Cosmo’s side and sees the hair rippling slightly. He slides closer and starts to laugh. He gives Cosmo’s ear another rub as he gets up. “I’ll be right back with Keith.” He trails off as he looks down at the cat and laughs again.

He squeezes back out of the cave and pauses. The light is quickly fading and fresh snow has started to fall. He’s just started circling back around the outcropping when he hears Keith calling for Cosmo. He calls his name and, after a moment, sees him closing the distance between them.

“Did you. . .”

“Down in the cave. . .Keith. . .wait. . .”

Keith doesn’t listen. Shiro scrambles to follow and hears Cosmo’s whine as Keith calls to him then slips into the cave. Shiro slips in behind him and watches as Keith falls to his knees beside the dog.

“Keith. . .wait. . .”

He’s too late. Keith yelps and recoils. 

“What the. . .”

Cosmo licks at Keith and whines as the cat hisses and growls.

“I didn’t even see. . .little shit bit me. The fuck!”

“You scared her,” Shiro says. He gestures for Keith to show him his hand. Blood seeps from two perfectly round holes left by the cat’s fangs. 

Cosmo whines and alternates from licking at Keith and the cat as Shiro takes off his glove and presses it against the wound.

“We need to have that looked at,” he says. “Cat bites aren’t anything to mess with.”

“Fucking cat,” Keith mutters.

“It’s not her fault,” Shiro says. “She’s just protecting her kittens.”

Keith squints at him and Shiro points at Cosmo’s side, where the hair is gently rippling. The cat stares at them then, as Cosmo licks her, settles down. As they watch, a kitten emerges from the dog’s coat and worms its way to nurse from its mother. It’s followed by a second and then a third.

Shiro smiles as he hears Keith laugh.

“Really?” He strokes Cosmo’s head with his uninjured hand. The dog laps at his face and beats the ground with his tail. Shiro laughs then recoils as Keith makes a kissy face and lets the dog lick his lips.

“Ok, ok, Cosmo’s fine. You two don’t have to make out to celebrate.”

Keith gives the dog a kiss on his nose then puckers up at Shiro.

“No.” He backs away and Keith laughs. “Come on and help me get them back to the house.”

Keith huffs.

“What? You’re going to leave Cosmo’s new friends out here to freeze to death?”

“Fine,” Keith sighs. “But I’m not going to try and touch them again. You figure that out and. . .”

Shiro holds up his Galra hand and grins at Keith. It glows slightly as he warms it a bit and, with just a little bit of coaxing and a few encouraging licks from Cosmo, the mother cat allows him to scoop the three kittens into his hat and hands them to Keith. He looks at the hat full of kittens and Shiro huffs. 

“They aren’t going to bite you for fuck’s sake. Just hold them for a second while I see if mama will. ..”

“Mama?”

“Well, she is, right?”

Keith doesn’t argue as he takes the kittens. Shiro offers his opposite hand to the cat and she sniffs him then lets him gently stroke her head. He pets down her neck and shoulder. Behind him, Shiro hears the kittens mewing then the rake of a zipper. He turns to see Keith tucking them into his jacket. Shiro grins at him.

“What? It’s cold in here.”

After a few minutes, Shiro is able to pick up the cat and tuck her into his jacket. He feels her heart racing and the prick of her claws into his skin but she offers no resistance as they get up and leave the cave.

Cosmo circles them, alternating between sniffing Keith’s chest and Shiro’s as they carefully trudge back to the house. Inside, Shiro tries to take the cat back to the bathroom but Cosmo makes it impossible as he tries to squeeze himself into the small space.

“Just bring them out here,” Keith huffs. Cosmo lays next to the fireplace and Keith opens his jacket and produces the hat full of kittens. Cosmo whines and licks at them then the cat as Shiro opens his coat and puts her and then the kittens at the dog's side.

“They’re probably loaded with fleas and. . .shit, I better not have to get rabies shots because she bit me.” He glares at his hand. “Hurts like hell.”

Shiro looks up from the cat and her kittens.

“Come on. . .” He takes Keith by the shoulders and walks him back to the bathroom where he starts tending to his injury. “We can go to the clinic now if you want.”

“No, it’s late. It should be fine until tomorrow.” He smiles at Shiro. “You think she’s the one that’s been walking on my truck?”

“Maybe,” Shiro replies. “Cosmo really likes her. And she really likes him.”

“And you.” He snickers. “I never thought I’d see you stroking pussy.”

Shiro laughs.

“You have to take care of them,” Keith says. “I’m not going to feed them or do anything involving cat litter or. . .”

“Uh-huh.”

“I mean it.”

“I hear you.” Shiro grins at him. Keith narrows his eyes at him and Shiro laughs. “Yeah, I see you, bad ass.” He gives Keith a kiss on the mouth and makes a face. “Ugh, Cosmo’s sloppy seconds.” He grins at Keith and adds. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have pussy to stroke.”

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts used: feral, kitten, bite, black, injury, fangs
> 
> These are from a list put up by @belovedsheith (twitter) Technically it's a drawing list but I don't draw.


End file.
